Craig Custance: “Detroit setting up to have lots of cap space for 2019 free agency. Vanek, Howard, Nyquist, Kronwall all come off the books, close to $18 million. Zetterberg up in the air. Obvious target for them would be Karlsson.”

With that said, outside of Karlsson, who else would be prime targets ?

My point was that I don't see him making it to free agency, he'll sign for 8 years then get traded.

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Yep. He can sign for 8 years, 12.0M and be traded to Detroit with Bobby Ryan, and we can live with those caphits if certain caphits go on another direction. Both possible at this season, or at next season.

Karlsson 6.5M + 3 years of 12.0M + Ryan 7.25M of next 4 years would cost:Total of 71.5M in next 4 years for Ottawa

Package of Nyquist+Kronwall+Franzen+Athanasiou+McIsaac/Cholowski/Hronek + picks would cost on next 4 years:
Nyquist 4.75M for 1 year (Ott can trade him for picks at deadline)
Athanasiou 2.5M for 4 years (young forward replacement for Ryan)
Kronwall 1.75M for 1 year (defenceman replacement for Karlsson)
Franzen 1.0M for 2 years (extra caphit to save money and reach the cap floor)
McIsaac/Cholowski/Hronek for 900k ELC for 3 years (defenceman prospect to replace retiring Kronwall)Total of: 21.2M

Melniyuk will want to save money and this trade would save him 50M dollars during next 4 years.

Even if the budget is there, Karlsson isn't coming here. The odds of landing Jack Hughes are miniscule, but I'd sooner bet on that than an elite free agent defenseman coming to a franchise that doesn't have the pieces to excite him to come here.

Even if the budget is there, Karlsson isn't coming here. The odds of landing Jack Hughes are miniscule, but I'd sooner bet on that than an elite free agent defenseman coming to a franchise that doesn't have the pieces to excite him to come here.

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The reality is that none of us know a thing about where Karlsson will or will not go. We can all pretend, the optimists can act like its happening, and the pessimists can act like there is no chance, but we're all just guessing. The thing against us is that we are not a great team, the thing for us is that Karlsson is pretty good buddies with a lot of our players. All we can do is see how this plays out.

When this roster was Sweden 2.0, I would have felt pretty good going into free agency. But as the original quote says, literally all of Kronwall, Nyquist, and Zetterberg could be gone. There goes our ace in the hole. So basically our one area of enticement is that the Wings will offer an absolutely bonkers $$$ contract with a no-movement clause. And hey, that's a good start.

Honestly I think the biggest issue is that another team will trade for Karlsson and spend months courting him with a new deal. If he actually makes it to free agency, and his primary goal isn't joining an immediate contender, I think you could reasonably consider the Wings a strong option considering what a competitive contract they'll put on the table.

I think we should at least try for Karlsson, considering we'll have the cap space. We get a #1 center in the draft (most of the players in the top 15 are centers) and get Karlsson and our rebuild is almost over, we just have to wait for the prospects to develop. If we want Karlsson we don't want to see a trade. He would likely extend with his new team.

I think we should at least try for Karlsson, considering we'll have the cap space. We get a #1 center in the draft (most of the players in the top 15 are centers) and get Karlsson and our rebuild is almost over, we just have to wait for the prospects to develop. If we want Karlsson we don't want to see a trade. He would likely extend with his new team.

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Larkin and Zadina are the only talent on the team with no goalie in sight, I wouldn't say, even with the dream of Karlsson, that the rebuild would almost be over. Just IMHO.

Not sure the team should be looking at adding a defensemen next year, honestly, unless both E and Kronwall leave together, and even then, it should be a cheap, 3rd pairing guy. I think they'll have to decide, this year, if Ras is a C or a W, and then decide how to address whichever position he's not playing (assuming we don't win Hughes, and assuming Z retires).

Larkin and Zadina are the only talent on the team with no goalie in sight, I wouldn't say, even with the dream of Karlsson, that the rebuild would almost be over. Just IMHO.

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We would likely add an elite center prospect in the draft, so that's 3 core forwards + your elite defenseman in Karlsson. Veleno, Rasmussen, Mantha, Bertuzzi, and Berggren give us a good supporting cast on forward. Cholowski and Hronek will be challenging for roster spots. We'd be done collecting the pieces, we'd just have to wait for them to develop.

Not sure the team should be looking at adding a defensemen next year, honestly, unless both E and Kronwall leave together, and even then, it should be a cheap, 3rd pairing guy. I think they'll have to decide, this year, if Ras is a C or a W, and then decide how to address whichever position he's not playing (assuming we don't win Hughes, and assuming Z retires).

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You never know. If he doesn't return our calls fine, move on. There's no sense in ignoring the fact that he's available and not taking a shot at him.

It's funny how Karlsson's 11M caphit is a problem in almost every contender. He can't go to the best team, he has to pick some secondary level promising team which could be on the rise after 1-2 years.